ICYMI: Top RNC Official Throws House Republicans An Anvil

RNC spokesman Sean Spicer really threw House Republicans an anvil today. Speaking at a forum, Spicer revealed Speaker Ryan and the NRCC’s worst kept secret: on policy, there are few major differences between the positions of Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.

The top strategist for the Republican National Committee said Tuesday that whatever divide exists between the Republican Party and its likely presidential nominee, Donald Trump, comes down to the way he talks.

Because when it comes to Trump’s positions on the issues, Sean Spicer – the party’s chief strategist and communications director – said there is little daylight between the GOP and its standard bearer.

“Most of the issues with Trump, frankly, come down to personality. They don’t like his tone, they don’t like his words,” Spicer said at a forum hosted by the American Petroleum Institute. “For the most part, you’re not seeing major splits in our party regarding policy.”

[…]

Trump has also been mum on the House Republican Conference’s legislative package they have dubbed the “Better Way,” and a number of Republicans have said they do not know whether he stands with them when it comes to its particulars.

Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan, the House speaker, has said Trump needs to do more to unify the Republican Party. And while he supports Trump, Ryan has said he wants Republican lawmakers and delegates to act on their own “conscience” in whether they want to support him.

For Spicer, questions about the “conscience” of Republicans, again, have to do with Trump’s tone.

“They’re not ‘voting their conscience’ because he’s saying, ‘Guys, we fundamentally disagree with where he comes down on how to engage in the Middle East,’” he said. “The concerns that you see from our members largely have to do with tone and rhetoric. They’re not issues.”

#RyanRealityCheck

Speaker Paul Ryan took over the reins of the unruly House Republican Conference with lofty ambitions for a "Year of Ideas." Follow this space as we bring the Speaker back down to Earth, with the help of the House Freedom Caucus and the GOP presidential field.